Maywood Station is a compact museum with an unusually strong connection between its building, its full-size equipment and its archives. The station dates from 1872 and served the New York, Susquehanna & Western. Its preservation offers a local view of a railroad whose name can sound much larger and more distant than the everyday station work carried out here. The museum explains how the railway influenced Maywood and neighboring communities, making the depot a starting point for understanding the borough’s development.
The station was restored by the Maywood Station Historical Committee and formally reopened as a museum in September 2004. Its survival is therefore also a story of local volunteers recovering a building and giving it a continuing public purpose. Look closely at the structure before moving to the exhibits: the scale of the station, its relationship with the track and the arrangement of its rooms all help explain how a small passenger stop functioned.
The outdoor collection includes New York, Susquehanna & Western ALCO S-2 diesel locomotive No. 206 and caboose No. 24542. The locomotive introduces the work of switching cars and handling shorter railway movements, a less glamorous but essential counterpart to famous express trains. The caboose represents the working space once provided for the crew at the rear of a freight train. Together they let a visitor consider the railroad as a freight business as well as a passenger service.
Maywood also has a significant documentary role. In 2007 it became the official home of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society’s archives. The holdings include drawings, maps, track diagrams, photographs, timetables and operating records. Such material is important because the appearance of a restored vehicle answers only some historical questions; documents reveal routes, schedules, alterations and the decisions behind the equipment.
The museum’s limited public openings are part of its volunteer-supported operation. A rewarding visit connects three scales of history: the preserved station as a community landmark, the locomotive and caboose as working machines, and the records that explain the larger railway system.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in New Jersey
- Black River & Western Railroad — Heritage Collection — Ringoes: Operating heritage railway collection
- North Pemberton Railroad Station Museum — Pemberton: Depot and local railroad museum
- Phillipsburg Railroad Historians museum — Phillipsburg: Railroad museum and local preservation collection
- United Railroad Historical Society — Boonton Collection — Boonton: Railroad preservation collection and restoration yard
- Whippany Railway Museum — Whippany: Railroad museum and equipment collection
- All 6 railroad museums and sites in New Jersey
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Northeast — the trains you can ride in the region